Android sux!

Ok, I have bad eyes, so I replaced my iPhone 3gs with a 4.5" Infuse last April. I needed the larger screen to read the text. But Damn, the rest of the phone just sux. Constantly locking up. If you thought the iPhone keyboard made you miss the right keys then you haven't tried Android yet. At least with iPhone you just have to be in the ballpark and it knows what key you were aiming for, maybe because those keys are staggered like theater seats instead of in rows.
If you get a text and you want to add it to your address book, you can select add to address book, but it just opens your address book and doesn't add it! You have to manually remember it and enter it yourself. Copy and Paste between programs? I can't even get it to copy and paste the right areas in the same program. Put your cursor where you want it to edit a word? Good luck! Just delete the whole sentence and try again.
It came with 2.2 after 2.3 had came out, and AT&T store said "oh don't worry, we are working to bring you updates quicker so it will be updated soon." bull-crap! Still no update. Oh, wait, there is an update on the net this month finally... but it will only load on phones that never loaded the Dec. tiny update! Oh wait, but you can force the new update by hacking your phone and loading the old original version first and then manually loading the new version. Bull-crap!
So I did the backwards load and then the phone Bricked when the load failed. Then I downloaded "unbrick" and restored the phone back to the original old version. But then Email wouldn't download emails anymore until I shut down the phone between each check. Yes I wiped the phone and lost everything and started over, but Email still wouldn't work. So I got the new GingerBread hacker update to work and got that official newest Samsung Version loaded since Samsung can't get their own updates to work. Now Email downloads fine, but, what's this? Every time I try to Reply to an Email the email program crashes@! Bull-crap!
I don't talk on my phone, I use email all day every day for work.
iPhone 4s here I come. At&t says I'm not elligible for an iPhone 4s until 12/12! Bull-crap!
Ebay here I come. I hope the newer retina display is clearer than the 3gs so I can read it.

I wouldn't judge Android too harshly simply because Samsung sucks. HTC would be closer to an iPhone experience - the keyboard is better, they're generally more reliable, etc... The main problem with Android is there's no assurance of quality, each OEM determines that. I know many people who had issues with Samsung and Motorola, HTC and LG seem to be better. I personally went from an iPhone 3g to an HTC Amaze, which has worked out great for me.

I wouldn't judge Android too harshly simply because Samsung sucks. HTC would be closer to an iPhone experience - the keyboard is better, they're generally more reliable, etc... The main problem with Android is there's no assurance of quality, each OEM determines that. I know many people who had issues with Samsung and Motorola, HTC and LG seem to be better. I personally went from an iPhone 3g to an HTC Amaze, which has worked out great for me.

You're right as to the reasons why my judgement is so harsh, but I stand by my judgement. Paying $400 and being stuck to a 2 year contract, which is longer than the warranty on the phone, and then having no assurance of quality, nor updates... There might be another brand out there that could work... but as Bush once said, Fool me once or twice or not and you can't be fooled the next time again... er something like that. I just can't trust the Android ecosystem anymore.

You're right as to the reasons why my judgement is so harsh, but I stand by my judgement. Paying $400 and being stuck to a 2 year contract, which is longer than the warranty on the phone, and then having no assurance of quality, nor updates... There might be another brand out there that could work... but as Bush once said, Fool me once or twice or not and you can't be fooled the next time again... er something like that. I just can't trust the Android ecosystem anymore.

By comparison, I paid a hundred bucks for my phone, which I bought with Telus (Canada), and it's 650 without contract. My carrier also offers a special warranty (5 dollars monthly), which covers replacement of broken/destroyed (by any means) phones, for the entire duration of your contract.

But yes, you can't trust the Android ecosystem, but that's like saying you can't trust Microsoft because Dell or HP or someone ripped you off.

Apple is nice because they're a good manufacturer, but your choice is limited by going with them. In my case, I didn't go with Apple again because Siri is useless for location searches in Canada, and I prefer large screen devices (I also drive long distances, and the turn by turn navigation Google offers is fantastic).

You could try getting a different OS and unlocking your phone. Some of the best ROMS out there are made by Cyanogen, and I'm correct, the main dev at Cyanogen has been hired by Samsung to improve their OS.

The thing with Samsung is that it's trying to much to create an UI similar to their TouchWiz, which in turn makes the phone sluggish and unresponsive. You should definitely unlock yours and get a custom ROM.

You could try getting a different OS and unlocking your phone. Some of the best ROMS out there are made by Cyanogen, and I'm correct, the main dev at Cyanogen has been hired by Samsung to improve their OS.

The thing with Samsung is that it's trying to much to create an UI similar to their TouchWiz, which in turn makes the phone sluggish and unresponsive. You should definitely unlock yours and get a custom ROM.

The instant anyone says anything about rooting and flashing ROMs it just feeds into why the iPhone is better.

Ok, I have bad eyes, so I replaced my iPhone 3gs with a 4.5" Infuse last April. I needed the larger screen to read the text. But Damn, the rest of the phone just sux. Constantly locking up. If you thought the iPhone keyboard made you miss the right keys then you haven't tried Android yet. At least with iPhone you just have to be in the ballpark and it knows what key you were aiming for, maybe because those keys are staggered like theater seats instead of in rows.
If you get a text and you want to add it to your address book, you can select add to address book, but it just opens your address book and doesn't add it! You have to manually remember it and enter it yourself. Copy and Paste between programs? I can't even get it to copy and paste the right areas in the same program. Put your cursor where you want it to edit a word? Good luck! Just delete the whole sentence and try again.
It came with 2.2 after 2.3 had came out, and AT&T store said "oh don't worry, we are working to bring you updates quicker so it will be updated soon." bull-crap! Still no update. Oh, wait, there is an update on the net this month finally... but it will only load on phones that never loaded the Dec. tiny update! Oh wait, but you can force the new update by hacking your phone and loading the old original version first and then manually loading the new version. Bull-crap!
So I did the backwards load and then the phone Bricked when the load failed. Then I downloaded "unbrick" and restored the phone back to the original old version. But then Email wouldn't download emails anymore until I shut down the phone between each check. Yes I wiped the phone and lost everything and started over, but Email still wouldn't work. So I got the new GingerBread hacker update to work and got that official newest Samsung Version loaded since Samsung can't get their own updates to work. Now Email downloads fine, but, what's this? Every time I try to Reply to an Email the email program crashes@! Bull-crap!
I don't talk on my phone, I use email all day every day for work.
iPhone 4s here I come. At&t says I'm not elligible for an iPhone 4s until 12/12! Bull-crap!
Ebay here I come. I hope the newer retina display is clearer than the 3gs so I can read it.

In my experience, I too have to agree with the OP. I have a Samsung Galaxy 1G.
From what I have gathered, for the most part, most people are satisfied with Samsung if they hacked their Android, especially installed Cyanogen. I can't do so for another few months because the Galaxy is still under warranty. I have to get someone else to do it because I am not comfortorable doing it myself and the harsh comments to noobs on XDA forum makes me not want to go there at all. In fact, I don't. For an open source OS, I have no idea why it's not as easy to install Cyanogen like it is to JB and iPhone.

What problems or issues I have with Android is poor battery performance. I suspect for the most part, it has to do with the fact that apps load into resident memory on the phone even after you killed them with a task killer. Even if the app itself has a "kill switch" so to speak, it still loads. With iOS it's as simple as disabling PUSH.

With Android, you do have the use of an mini SD Card but many apps actually save on the internal memory or USB drive as Samsung calls. Some apps allow to change the location others don't. Not all non stock apps can be backed up as well for some uknown reason.

There are also lots of freezing and force closes with Android. This happens at least a couple of times a day even with the latest update and factory restore.

Spell check and text prediction is awful, imo compared to iOS. You can download keyboard apps that improve things a bit, but the app themselves create other issues like limited word options. SwiftkeyX comes to mind.

Another pet peeve of mine is the app's data is saved on the device. Twitter apps over a very short time build up and even though you can clear your cache, the app size gets bigger and bigger.

The UI as already mentioned is poor imo. I hate the app drawer. I like how I can simply create folders on my main screen, although the number of app restriction for the folders is annoying on iOS. The phone itself feels sluggish after you install apps despite the processor strength.

Increased malware on Android. One security firm has estimated that somewhere between 500,000 and a million Android users have been hit by malware — and that was from early 2011. Sure, you can install an AV app, but the app scans for malware AFTER you download and install the app. Is that insane or what?

And finally, of course, is the Android Fragementation issue which obviously concerns some but not others.

Android dont suck. Though, i agree that stock OS you get in cellphone are crappy but if you mod your cellphone with custom firmware, its really good then. Also, being a Open source, it has no limitation no boundaries. Its development will never stop i tell you.
I personally use iPhone and i love it but saying Android sucks, it absurd in my opinion.

_________________
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

I got my iPhone 4s last night, for cheap on ebay, near new conidtion, and Siri was not understanding a thing I said. So I quickly looked up how to reinstall IOS. I held down the home and sleep button for 10 seconds, then released the sleep button, then plugged it into iTunes and it wiped, reset, and reloaded IOS automatically, right the first time. Now it works perfectly so I got a great deal due to someone's not knowing how to reset the phone.
As opposed to the Samsung Infuse which doesn't talk to the PC at all until you go to the Samsung website and download Kies software, which then says that your device is not recognized anyways. So you have to research the problem and then uninstall Kies, and download Kies Mini instead from some 3rd party site because Samsung doesn't list it in the support section for their phone. Then when you try to use it to update your phone it still doesn't recognize the phone. Nothing "wrong" with the phone, it doesn't work when it's working normally.
Forget it. I love my new iPhone 4s. Even when it doesn't work, it works.

Ok, now that that's out of the way; to the OP:
I highly suggest you post your issues (in a calmer manner) here.

It definitely sounds like something went wrong, or you missed a step, with the manual update process, and those people should be able to help you out much better than anyone here at AI.

I was there first, wasted a week over there struggling with everyone else having the same issues. I didn't miss any steps. I tried the official steps, and then the 100 additional hacking steps the people over there came up with. I came here after running out of options there and ordering an iPhone. I was upset at the time I first posted here, as is my co-worker right now because he still has his Samsung giving him problems. He threw his down a flight of stairs. He doesn't have the same Android phone as me nor AT&T, he has US Cellular. I'm calm now. I like my iPhone. I sent emails today, and they actually went out. He sent me an email today and it's still sitting in his outgoing box on the phone... along with one he tried to send me in Jan... and other from Oct... It's funny because I was complaining to him for months that emails I sent never went out, and he was oblivious to the same thing happening on his phone until he just opened his outgoing box today and noticed that there was a whole list of emails stuck in his too. So yes, I am calmer today with my iphone, but he's still as upset as I was last week.

As opposed to the Samsung Infuse which doesn't talk to the PC at all until you go to the Samsung website and download Kies software, which then says that your device is not recognized anyways. So you have to research the problem and then uninstall Kies, and download Kies Mini instead from some 3rd party site because Samsung doesn't list it in the support section for their phone. Then when you try to use it to update your phone it still doesn't recognize the phone. Nothing "wrong" with the phone, it doesn't work when it's working normally.
Forget it. I love my new iPhone 4s. Even when it doesn't work, it works.

This is a very common Samsung issue. The people with the highest praises of their Android usually own a true Google phone or an HTC phone. Of course, those who have custom roms supercede everyone and will defend Android to the death. For most people, they want everything to work and work well from the beginning. That's where iPhone is king, despite it's tiny screen.

I just got back my Galaxy S from the service centre and the qLawncher error keeps on popping up. The service depot was suppose to reflash the OS and repair the speaker, yet after a half an hour of loading my apps it started happening again.

I hear Android techies talk about custom ROMS and rooting and while it may seem very simple for techies or those who like to experiment, that's not for me. For an open source platform it seems illogical why a complete noob and an idiot one can Jailbreak an iPhone but even someone who is a moderate geek, can't install a custom rom onto their Android. Clear and concise instructions are lacking with Android. So many different models to choose from too. I've been told that the installing of Cyanogen will take a few hours.

Google could stand to make a lot of money if they offered and charged ppl for these custom mods from their own site after you download an app onto your PC, add a disclaimer that installing this rom will void your warranty. You then would install the rom directly from Google with a simple mouse click. They would update the rom as necessary. No fiddling, no frustration, and searching on how to install the dang thing.

I read somewhere the future of smartphones will eventually not depend so much with the hardware, rather software and UI and user experience which is what Apple has been doing with the iPhone for 5 generations.

It just means an android phone maker shipped garbage from the factory, which is something Apple would never do. That is why android loses.

Off topic but I wouldn't say that Apple "never" ships garbage. I bought the original AppleTV which came crippled by Apple. I used online hackers to custom hack and load Hulu and Boxee onto it, which made it very useful, (before SmartTVs existed), but Apple kept putting out little updates just to break devices that were customized to actually do something useful. If Apple wants to put out useless equipment once in a while, fine, but at least Samsung doesn't put out updates just for the purpose of braking custom ROMs. Apple TV might be better today, I don't know, I wouldn't buy another one of those after that experience, just like I'll never buy another Samsung Android. I'm sure you mean that Apple would never ship an iPhone from the factory with garbage, since that was the topic.